April 4, 2013

Extras: The Complete First Season (2005) - DVD

by Ian Pugh The oft-invoked reason
as to why we indulge in "entertainment journalism" is because it
demystifies the culture of celebrity. Proof of star public outbursts
and make-up-free faces, in other words, forces them to "our" level of
humanity. At first glance, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's BBC
sitcom "Extras" feeds into that fascination through parody: Proposed as
unreachable titans via eponymous episode titles, the guest stars who
tower over "background artists" Andy Millman (Gervais) and Maggie
Jacobs (Ashley Jensen) are invariably revealed to be windbags and/or
perverts. It's possible to see this as an attempt to deter us from
rumour-mongering: Kate Winslet becomes a bitter Oscar bridesmaid ("You
are guaranteed an Oscar if you play a mental," she says upon seeing a
woman with cerebral palsy), for instance, and Ben Stiller--improbably
directing a film about the Yugoslav Wars--presents himself as precisely
the kind of loser he plays in the movies but with twice the ego.

And yet, although self-deprecating humour endears us to big names, it
also distances us from them--when oft-whispered secret shames and
claims of "I hear he's really an asshole" are realized for us in
fictional form, we're still left to wonder if we're witnessing truth.
Realizing this, "Extras" actually encourages us to become starstruck,
to lose focus, since it allows the series more room to blindside us
with its superb characterizations and eventually call us on our
superficiality. By the time we get to C-list game-show host Les Dennis,
here suffering from a breakdown (humorous in how self-consciously
pathetic it is), we understand that it shouldn't be all that sporting
to rag on celebrities.

A different sort of mystique shrouds film
and TV extras. Andy and Maggie are lost in the anonymity of their work
(indeed, so often does Maggie wear wigs on the job that it's something
of a shock to discover that her real hair is a frizzy blonde mop), and
they spend most of their time trying to capture someone's attention, be
it a romantic interest, a professional superior, or their
literal/figurative viewing audience. They succeed, of course, but often
in the worst possible way: a great majority of scenes end with one or
both of our heroes slowly exiting frame after committing some major
social gaffe, costing them a date or a job. Perhaps it is a reflection
of the type of embarrassment comedy that made Ricky Gervais a star with
"The Office", but in "Extras", the gaffe itself is somehow less
egregious than destroying the pretensions that surround life in
Hollywood. In short, the jig is up that the nameless ciphers who pass
us by on a daily basis, the window dressing on our lives, are human
beings. It's an idea that, when seriously contemplated, becomes a cold
shower on our self-centred illusions.

Gervais insists that "Extras" is more about
character development than it is any sort of indictment of the
entertainment industry, and the series certainly manages that aim with
its impossibly quick wit and effortlessly complex situations. That
said, it's impossible to not see Gervai battle for "The Office" in
Andy's struggle to produce his own work-a-day satire, "When the Whistle
Blows". The allegorical frustrations only mount once he finally gets
the script to the BBC--the deadpan misfortune in Andy's life doesn't
change in the least, and the big star (Patrick Stewart, obsessed with
"female nudity") still manages to cast a shadow over it all. In spite
of everything, each episode concludes with a return to relative
normalcy, the greatest successes or failures culminating in
undeterrable dreams that patiently await time in the spotlight. Cat
Steven "Tea for the Tillerman" accompanies the closing titles, which
represent their own form of wish fulfillment for the characters: While
"Andy Millman / Ricky Gervais" and "Maggie Jacobs / Ashley Jensen" are
proudly listed at the top, the supporting cast isn't always afforded
the same luxury. Andy's comically inept agent Darren Lamb (Merchant) is
always credited as "Agent," and Lamb's favourite charge, actor Shaun
Williamson, is rarely referred to as anything but "Barry," his
character from the soap opera "EastEnders". Gervais and Merchant
simultaneously tap into the optimism and cynicism that drive the
business: Perhaps the only way to succeed in this mad industry is to
surround oneself with the right amount of non-identity--an equation of
the roles actors play to the lives they live.

THE
DVD
"Extras: The Complete First Season" arrives on DVD in a two-disc set
courtesy of HBO that reshuffles the episode order as it appeared on the
native BBC/R2 release to reflect the sequence in which the series aired
in North America. The 1.78:1, 16x9-enhanced image is consistently sharp
if slightly washed-out, as is typical of British television; the DD 2.0
stereo audio is particularly robust, though, with musical interludes
coming through with uncommon strength. "Deleted Scenes" and "Outtakes"
are presented across both discs alongside corresponding episodes. Those
elisions that constitute the former, however funny, were pretty
obviously cut because they would've disrupted the flow of the script;
the latter, meanwhile, usually have Gervais ruining takes with his
boisterous hyena-laughter.

Find slightly more substantial bonus
features on Disc Two: "Finding Leo" (10 mins.) is a fascinating home
video shot by Merchant in which Gervais scrambles to locate the number
for Leonardo DiCaprio's agent after Jude Law cancels an appearance on
the show at the last minute (which probably explains the giant Alfie
poster in the parting shot of the season finale); and "Extras: The
Difficult Second Album" (21 mins.) is a breezy doc that has Gervais and
Merchant chronicling the bridge between "The Office" and "Extras" as
well as imparting a few anecdotes about working with celebrities...and
hilariously hawking "Office"-themed office supplies. An unintentionally
goofy promo for various HBO programs (wherein said shows are invaded by
their own titles in giant CGI form) and a commercial for "The Office:
The Complete Series One and Two" cue up on startup of the first platter. Originally published: April 3, 2007.